V  ftJH 

THE 


CHAUTAUQUA 

TEXT-BOOKS. 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

The  Societies,  Fields,  Agencies,  and  Successes 
of  Protestant  Missions. 

BY  HENRY  K.  CARROLL, 
Religious  Editor  of  “The  Independent.” 


NEW  YORK : 

PHILLIPS  &  HUNT. 
CINCINNATI : 
WALDEN  &  STOWE. 
1883. 


Copyright,  r88i.  by 
RHIUL.IPS  &.  HUNT, 
New  York. 


PREFATORY. 


The  two  lectures  or  papers  comprising 
this  little  book  were  prepared  in  1880 — 
the  first  for  the  Chautauqua  Foreign  Mis¬ 
sion  Institute  ;  the  second  for  the  Annual 
Meeting  of  the  American  Missionary  As¬ 
sociation.  They  have  already  been  print¬ 
ed  in  the  periodical  press,  and  are  repro¬ 
duced  in  this  form  without  change,  in  the 
hope  that  their  usefulness  may  be  ex¬ 
tended. 

H.  K.  C. 


New  York  City,  Jan .,  1881. 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2008 


https://archive.org/details/worldofmissionssOOcarr 


CONTENTS. 


X. 

THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

.  .  Page 

Rise  of  the  Modern  Missionary  Movement. .  7 

Early  Continental  Enterprises .  8 

The  First  British  Society .  10 

Moravian  Missions .  11 

Formation  of  the  Great  English  Societies..  11 
Development  of  Missionary  Spirit  in  Scot¬ 
land  . 

Continental  Societies .  14 

American  Societies .  15 

Income  of  English,  Continental,  and  Amer¬ 
ican  Societies .  x6 

The  Various  Mission  Fields .  18 

Indian  Missions  and  their  Difficulties .  21 

Missions  in  China .  25 

The  Work  in  Japan .  26 

The  Indo-China  Peninsula .  27 

Africa  and  its  Peoples .  27 

Missions  on  the  Coasts .  28 

The  Great  Interior  Missions .  31 

Missions  in  Mohammedan  Countries .  32 

Polynesia  and  Madagascar .  33 

Dther  Fields .  34 

The  Various  Missionary  Agencies .  35 

dumber  of  Missionaries  and  Helpers .  36 

Educational,  Literary,  and  Medical  Work. .  37 


6 


Contents. 


Page 

The  Results  of  Missions .  38 

Benefits  to  Commerce  and  Society .  39 

Contributions  to  Geography,  Philology,  and 

Ethnology .  41 

General  Statistics .  43 

Conclusion .  44 


I^^HT  II. 

RECENT  PROGRESS  OF  FOREIGN  MIS¬ 
SIONS. 

Pack 

Chief  Elements  of  Missionary  Progress .  46 

Reasons  for  Hopefulness .  46 

Progress  of  Missions  in  Turkey .  47 

Growth  in  Persia  and  Egypt .  49 

The  Revival  in  India .  50 

Large  Accessions .  51 

Extension  and  Self-support  in  India .  52 

Liberality  of  Christians  in  Burmah .  55 

Favorable  Indications  in  China .  56 

Good  Effects  of  Famine  Relief . . .  57 

Cheering  Results  in  Japan .  58 

Gains  and  Losses  in  Africa : 

The  Interior  Missions .  59 

Advance  on  the  West  Coast .  62 

Progress  in  Polynesia .  62 

Features  of  Missions  among  American 

Indians .  64 

Missions  in  Roman  Catholic  Countries .  65 

Jewish  Missions .  67 

The  Outlook .  67 


The  World  of  Missions. 


i. 

THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

The  world  of  missions  is  a  vast  and 
far-reaching  subject.  Hundreds  of  books 
would  not,  perhaps,  exhaust  it.  I  cannot, 
in  the  limits  assigned  a  lecture,  attempt 
much  beyond  the  giving  of  an  outline  of 
the  beginning  and  progress  of  the  great 
and  growing  work  of  Protestant  missions. 

The  history  of  the  rise  and  course  of 
the  modern  missionary  movement,  brief 
as  it  is,  is  a  history  of  noble  sacrifices,  of 
Herculean  endeavors,  of  marvelous  suc¬ 
cesses.  It  has  been  less  than  two  centu¬ 
ries  since  the  first  Protestant  missionary 
society  was  formed,  and  less  than  one 
century  since  the  work  of  converting  the 
heathen  was  actively  and  earnestly  begun. 
The  results  have  been  wonderful.  The 
standard  raised  in  India  has  been  carried 


8 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


round  the  world,  and  people  of  every  coun¬ 
try  have  been  gathered  under  it.  There 
is  scarcely  a  tribe  now  who  have  not  heard 
the  sound  of  the  Gospel. 

At  first  a  few  drops  of  rain  fell  from 
heaven  upon  the  mountain-side ;  long 
after  rivulets  began  to  form  and  flow  ; 
now  we  see  a  broad  and  hurrying  stream. 
As  we  follow  this  stream  into  the  future, 
we  behold  a  mighty  and  ever-broadening 
river,  flowing  swiftly  and  more  swiftly 
onward,  until  we  see  no  longer  banks,  no 
longer  a  stream,  but  one  boundless  ocean, 
covering  the  face  of  the  whole  earth,  and 
bringing  its  healing  waters  to  all  nations. 

The  Protestant  idea  of  heathen  missions 
is  as  old  as  Protestantism  itself.  There 
were  some  among  the  first  Protestants 
who  were  desirous  that  nations  living  in 
idolatry  should  have  the  Gospel.  Luther 
was  concerned  about  the  “  misery  of  pa¬ 
gans  and  Turks,”  and  asked  for  prayers 
and  missionaries  for  them.  But  Protest¬ 
antism  was  engaged  in  a  struggle  which 
required  all  its  attention  and  all  its  ener¬ 
gies,  and  it  could  not  respond  to  Luther’s 
request.  The  first  foreign  missionaries 
were  sent  from  Geneva  to  Brazil,  in  the 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


9 


middle  of  the  sixteenth  century  ;  but  they 
were  soon  driven  from  the  country,  and 
the  mission  came  to  naught.  A  few  years 
later  the  king  of  Sweden  established  a 
mission  in  Lapland.  Some  of  the  Ger¬ 
man  princes  tried,  in  the  seventeenth  cent¬ 
ury,  to  awaken  an  interest  in  foreign  mis¬ 
sions,  but  without  success.  It  said  that 
three  conversions  are  necessary  in  the 
case  of  a  German  :  first,  of  the  head  ;  next, 
of  the  heart ;  and,  lastly,  of  the  pocket. 
Baron  Von  Weis  proposed  a  “Jesus  As¬ 
sociation,”  to  send  the  Gospel  to  the  pa¬ 
gans  ;  but  there  were  few,  perhaps,  be¬ 
sides  the  baron  himself,  who  had  experi¬ 
enced  the  “  three  conversions.”  The  as¬ 
sociation  was  not  organized  ;  but,  as  was 
fitting,  the  man  who  had  the  honor  to 
propose  the  first  missionary  society  went 
himself  into  the  field,  and  died  in  the 
midst  of  his  labors  in  Surinam.  The 
Dutch,  who  were  a  great  commercial 
people  in  those  days,  sent  many  mission¬ 
aries  into  their  East  Indian  colonies,  who 
baptized  a  large  number  of  converts,  es¬ 
pecially  in  Ceylon.  Of  other  missionary 
enterprises  in  the  seventeenth  century 
there  were  none  worth  mentioning,  ex- 


10  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

cept  that  of  Eliot,  Mayhew,  and  others, 
among  the  Indians  of  America. 

In  none  of  the  missions  of  those  days 
was  there  promise  of  permanence  or  great 
results.  The  laborers  were  few,  and  their 
support  uncertain.  There  were  needed 
the  third  conversion  and  concerted  action. 
Cromwell  would  have  organized  all  Prot¬ 
estantism  into  a  missionary  society ;  but 
the  Churches  were  not  ready.  The  time 
for  a  beginning,  however,  was  near  at 
hand.  In  the  first  year  of  the  eighteenth 
century  there  was  organized  the  Society 
for  the  Propagation  of  the  Gospel  in  For¬ 
eign  Parts,  the  pioneer  of  all  missionary 
societies.  The  Society  did  not,  however, 
represent  all  Protestantism,  but  only  a 
few  members  of  the  Church  of  England. 
It  was  formed  especially  for  the  benefit 
of  British  colonists.  It  did  not  for  many 
years  send  missionaries  of  its  own  among 
the  heathen;  but  it  helped  those  of  the 
Danish  mission  in  India,  begun  in  1706. 
The  Society  still  carries  on  its  colonial 
missions  ;  but  its  work  among  the  heathen 
is  an  important  and  growing  one. 

The  call  of  Luther  for  missionaries  for 
the  “pagans  and  Turks  ”  may  be  called 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSION'S.  11 

the  first  epoch  in  Protestant  missions ;  the 
organization  of  the  Society  for  the  Propa¬ 
gation  of  the  Gospel  may  be  regarded  as 
the  second  epoch  ;  the  third  epoch  was, 
perhaps,  the  entrance  of  the  Moravians 
into  the  mission-field,  with  the  declaration 
of  the  principle  that  the  Church  of  Christ 
is  under  obligation  to  send  the  Gospel  to 
the  heathen.  Faithfully  have  these  peo¬ 
ple  kept  that  obligation,  from  the  day 
they  planted  their  first  mission  in  the 
West  Indies,  in  1732,  until  now,  nearly 
one  hundred  and  fifty  years.  They  have 
been,  in  the  true  sense,  a  missionary 
Church,  counting  the  majority  of  their 
communicants  in  the  mission-field,  and 
devoting  head,  heart,  and  pocket  to  the 
cause.  To  the  Moravians  is  due  a  debt 
of  gratitude  for  an  example  which  has 
encouraged  and  stimulated  and  educated 
other  denominations  in  their  labors  for 
the  conversion  of  the  world. 

The  fourth  epoch  in  Protestant  missions 
was  the  formation  of  the  Baptist  Mission¬ 
ary  Society  in  England,  in  1792.  There 
were  then  but  two  societies  in  existence, 
the  Moravian  and  the  Propagation  So¬ 
ciety.  The  latter  had  roused  but  little 


12  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

missionary  spirit,  and  when  William  Carey, 
a  young  and  devoted  minister,  began  to 
plead  before  his  brethren  the  cause  of  the 
heathen,  he  received  no  encouragement. 
On  one  notable  occasion  he  was  sternly 
rebuked.  “Young  man,  sit  down,”  cried 
an  aged  minister ;  “  when  God  pleases 
to  convert  the  heathen,  he  will  do  it  with¬ 
out  your  aid  or  mine.”  The  Baptist  So¬ 
ciety,  with  Carey  as  chief  among  its 
founders  and  missionaries,  was  the  first 
of  five  societies  which  sprang  into  exist¬ 
ence  in  the  last  decade  of  the  last  century. 
The  London  Society,  the  pioneer  in  the 
South  Seas,  in  China,  and  in  Madagascar, 
was  formed  as  a  union  Society,  in  1795, 
and  now  represents  the  Congregationalists. 
The  Church  Missionary  Society,  the  lead¬ 
er  of  all  societies  in  income,  was  instituted 
in  1799.  The  other  societies  formed  in 
that  decade  were  the  Scottish  and  the 
Glasgow,  whose  names  and  missions 
were  turned  over  to  the  present  mis¬ 
sionary  organizations  of  Scotland,  after 
many  years  of  honorable  labor.  The 
Wesleyan  Society  of  England,  among  the 
stars  of  whose  crown  are  the  Fiji  Islands, 
dates  its  rise  from  1813.  Many  other 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


13 


societies  have  come  into  existence  in  En¬ 
gland  since  the  Wesleyan,  among  which 
the  China  Inland  and  the  Cardiff  Living¬ 
stone  Missions  are  worthy  to  be  named. 
Both  are  undenominational. 

In  Scotland,  the  Kirk  was  opposed  to 
heathen  missions  for  many  years.  Its 
General  Assembly  passed  a  resolution  in 
1796  declaring  that  the  idea  of  converting 
the  heathen  was  “highly  preposterous.” 
Twenty-eight  years  later  this  action  was 
reversed,  and  the  Kirk  sent  forth,  in  1829, 
Alexander  Duff  as  its  first  missionary. 
The  name  of  Dr.  Duff  deserves  to  be  held 
in  great  honor.  His  career  as  an  educa¬ 
tional  missionary  in  India  was  one  of 
singular  success  ;  while  he  did  more  than 
any  other  man  to  overcome  the  prejudices 
and  indifference  in  Scotland  to  the  cause 
of  heathen  missions.  The  division  of  the 
Kirk,  in  1843,  which  gave  rise  to  the  Free 
Church,  gave  also  to  the  seceding  body 
all  the  missions  and  missionaries  of  the 
Kirk,  which  thus  had  a  second  beginning 
to  make.  The  Free  Church  conducts  its 
foreign  missions  very  vigorously,  being 
■second  only  to  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church,  which  entered  the  mission-field 


14  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

in  1847,  and  which  easily  leads  the  mis¬ 
sionary  forces  of  Scotland. 

On  the  Continent  more  than  half  a 
century  elapsed,  after  the  beginning  of 
Moravian  missions,  before  another  society 
came  into  existence.  The  Netherlands 
Society,  which  owes  its  birth  to  the  zeal 
aroused  by  the  organization  of  the  Lon¬ 
don  Society,  was  formed  in  1797;  but 
most  of  the  Continental  societies  now  at 
work  are  less  than  fifty  years  old.  The 
sentiment  of  the  Churches  was  not  favor¬ 
able  to  missions.  Christlieb  says  that  a 
German  professor  of  theology  apologized 
for  the  formation  of  a  missionary  society 
in  East  Friesland,  at  the  close  of  last 
century,  on  the  ground  that  culture  had 
not  yet  penetrated  to  that  remote  corner 
of  the  country.  Among  the  stronger  so¬ 
cieties  now  representing  the  Continent 
are  the  Basel,  the  Rhenish,  the  Berlin,  the 
Leipsic,  the  Hermannsburg,  the  Swedish, 
and  the  Paris  Evangelical.  Although 
the  Continental  Churches  have  been  tardy 
in  the  support  of  missions,  they  have  prob¬ 
ably  furnished  their  full  quota  of  mission¬ 
aries.  Some  of  the  earliest  missionaries 
sent  out  by  the  English  societies  were 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


15 


Germans,  and  German  names  are  still 
frequent  in  the  lists  of  those  societies. 
Such  men  as  Ziegenbalg,  Schwartz,  (the 
apostle  of  India,)  Krapf,  Rebmann,  Van- 
derkemp,  and  Gossner  have  added  to  the 
dignity  and  success  of  missionary  labor. 

The  Churches  of  the  United  States 
were  slower  in  taking  up  the  work  of 
foreign  missions  than  those  of  England, 
partly  because  they  had  a  large  and  in¬ 
creasing  work  at  home  to  do.  Churches 
were  to  be  built,  colleges  to  be  endowed, 
and  a  rapidly  increasing  population  to  be 
provided  with  the  Gospel.  Besides,  there 
were  heathen  enough  at  our  own  doors 
to  employ  our  spare  men  and  dollars. 
Some  successful  missionary  work  had  al¬ 
ready  been  done  among  the  Indians  when 
our  oldest  missionary  society  was  formed. 
But  there  was  little  enough  of  the  mis¬ 
sionary  spirit.  The  men  who  founded 
the  American  Board,  in  1810,  were  re¬ 
garded  by  many  as  visionary  and  fanat¬ 
ical  ;  and  when  the  application  for  a  char¬ 
ter  for  the  Board  came  before  the  Legisla¬ 
ture  of  Massachusetts,  a  member  opposed 
the  granting  of  it.  “  We  have,”  said  he, 
“  no  religion  to  spare.”  He  feared  that, 


16  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

if  much  of  the  precious  commodity  were 
exported,  the  country  would  be  impover¬ 
ished.  We  have  learned  since  then  the 
great  truth  that  prodigality  begets  wealth 
in  our  dealings  with  the  Gospel.  The 
American  Board  was  organized  as  a 
union  society,  and  for  many  years  Con- 
gregationalists,  Presbyterians,  and  the 
Reformed  (Dutch)  Church  co-operated 
in  its  support.  The  Reformed  Church 
organized  a  Board  of  its  own  in  1832,  and 
with  the  reunion  of  the  Old  and  New 
School  Presbyterians,  in  1870,  the  Board 
was  left  entirely  to  the  support  of  the 
Congregationalists.  The  Old  School 
Presbyterians  had  formed  a  society  as 
early  as  1831,  by  the  union  of  smaller 
societies,  for  work  among  the  Indians. 
From  this  beginning  has  come  the  Pres¬ 
byterian  Board  of  Foreign  Missions, 
which  represents  the  reunited  Church,  and 
constitutes  one  of  the  chief  foreign  mis¬ 
sion  agencies  of  the  United  States. 

The  Baptists,  who  were  so  fortunate  as 
to  secure,  honorably,  two  of  the  first  mis¬ 
sionaries  sent  out  by  the  American  Board 
— Judson  and  Rice — formed  a  society  in 
1814,  of  which  the  American  Baptist 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


17 


Missionary  Union  is  the  direct  successor. 
Two  other  societies  were  organized  in  the 
first  quarter  of  the  present  century,  the 
Methodist  Episcopal  (1819)  and  the  Prot¬ 
estant  Episcopal,  (1820,)  although  the 
Methodist  Society  did  not  begin  its  for¬ 
eign  missions  until  1832.  Other  denomi¬ 
nations  have  formed  societies,  one  after 
another,  so  that  there  is  scarcely  a  Church, 
however  small  or  obscure,  which  is  not 
represented  in  some  of  the  great  foreign 
fields.  The  Board  of  Foreign  Missions 
of  the  quaint  and  obscure  people  called 
Tunkers  is  only  two  months  old,  and 
there  are  some  denominations,  which  few 
have  ever  heard  of,  that  have  sent  forth 
missionaries  in  recent  years.  In  Canada 
the  Presbyterians,  Methodists,  and  Bap¬ 
tists  are  giving  such  attention  to  the 
foreign  field  as  their  duty  to  their  home 
populations  permits.  American  societies 
are  surely  and  steadily  growing  in  num¬ 
ber  and  strength.  They  have  a  success¬ 
ful  past  and  a  promising  future. 

It  is  a  significant  fact  that  missionary 
societies  do  not  die.  Denominational  or 
other  changes  may  result  in  the  union  of 
some  of  them,  and  occasionally  a  name 


18  THE  WOELD  OF  MISSIONS. 


may  be  missed  from  the  list ;  but  the  mis¬ 
sions  are  carried  on  under  other  manage¬ 
ment,  and  the  same  contributors  continue 
to  furnish  funds.  There  is  a  steady  increase 
in  the  number  of  societies,  and  in  the  ag¬ 
gregate  of  contributions.  There  are  now 
not  less  than  eighty-five  societies,  where 
there  were  only  nine  or  ten  eighty  years 
ago.  Of  these  societies  thirty-five  are 
American,  twenty-five  British,  and  twenty- 
five  Continental.  More  than  fifty  of  them 
have  been  organized  in  the  last  fifty  years. 
Their  aggregate  income  is  nefarly,  if  not 
quite,  $7,000,000  a  year,  as  against  about 
$250,000  eighty  years  ago.  This  vast 
sum  represents  not  the  receipts  of  an  ex¬ 
ceptionally  good  year,  but  the  income 
which  the  societies  expect  and  receive 
yearly,  with  little  variation.  The  managers 
of  the  societies  make  their  appropriations 
in  advance,  and  lay  upon  the  Churches 
the  obligation  to  furnish  the  funds.  These 
obligations  are  never  disowned  or  dishon¬ 
ored.  The  money  is  always  provided. 
The  Church  of  Christ  evidently  recog¬ 
nizes  the  truth  that  it  owes  the  Gospel  to 
the  heathen,  and  it  is  willing  to  pay  the 
debt.  The  British  societies  raise  more 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSION'S.  19 

than  half  of  the  whole  amount,  or  some¬ 
what  less  than  $4,000,000.  Five  of  them 
raised  last  year  more  than  $3,000,000, 
of  which  the  two  Anglican  societies  (the 
Church  and  the  Propagation)  received 
$1,900,000.  The  American  societies  ex¬ 
pend  about  $2,000,000  yearly,  and  the 
Continental  societies  nearly  $1,000,000. 

These  figures  represent  only  the  re¬ 
ceipts  of  foreign  missionary  societies. 
They  do  not  include  the  vast  sums  raised 
for  home  missions,  Bible,  and  tract  socie¬ 
ties,  and  other  similar  enterprises.  The 
grand  total  of  all  missionary  expenditures, 
at  home  and  abroad,  would  assuredly  not 
fall  below  $15,000,000.  One  need  not 
ask,  in  the  face  of  this  exhibit,  whether 
the  Churches  possess  spiritual  life ; 
whether  they  have  the  spirit  of  sacrifice, 
or  of  obedience  to  Christ’s  command  to 
preach  the  Gospel  to  every  creature. 

It  was  a  task  of  appalling  magnitude 
which  the  missionary  societies  had  before 
them  at  the  beginning  of  the  present  cent¬ 
ury.  The  vast  majority  of  the  popula¬ 
tion  of  the  world  lay  in  the  thick  darkness 
of  heathenism  and  unbelief.  The  pagans, 
with  the  Mohammedans,  occupied  sub- 


30  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


are  being  advanced  toward  the  Zambesi ; 
from  the  West  Coast  missionaries  are 
pushing  up  the  Congo  ;  and  from  the 
East  Coast  the  missions  on  the  great  lakes 
have  been  planted.  These  lake  missions 
open  a  new  chapter  in  the  history  of  mis¬ 
sionary  enterprise.  Missions  were  never 
undertaken  before  on  so  grand  a  scale  of 
cost  and  of  difficulty.  The  mission  in 
Uganda,  on  the  northern  shore  of  the 
Victoria  Nyanza,  is  eight  hundred  miles 
from  the  coast.  It  is,  in  fact,  a  European 
colony,  and  the  vast  quantity  of  stores 
required  for  its  use,  together  with  a  small 
vessel  for  the  lake,  had  to  be  carried  that 
distance  under  a  burning  African  sun, 
through  a  wild  and  almost  unknown 
country,  and  among  savages  who  had  to 
be  conciliated  with  bribes.  The  journey 
required  six  months  for  the  first  caravan, 
and  the  expedition  cost  $50,000.  Sir 
Samuel  Baker,  the  eminent  African  trav¬ 
eler,  said,  when  he  heard  of  this  project, 
that  any  society  would  be  crazy  to  think 
of  sending  missionaries  to  Uganda.  The 
mission,  however,  has  been  firmly  estab¬ 
lished,  at  a  cost  thus  far  of  over  $200,000, 
which  is  nearly  as  much  as  the  entire  in- 


THE  WOULD  OF  MISSIONS.  21 

The  greatest  of  the  enterprises  under¬ 
taken,  was,  perhaps,  the  conversion  of 
India.  This  great  country,  including 
Ceylon,  contains  240,000,000  of  people, 
or  more  than  one  sixth  of  the  population 
of  the  world.  The  people  are  attached 
chiefly  to  the  Hindu  and  Mohammedan 
religions,  the  former  counting,  perhaps, 
170,000,000  adherents.  The  obstacles  to 
missions  have  been  almost  overwhelming. 
“Where  in  all  the  world,”  exclaims  Dean 
Schlier,  “  is  there  such  a  Satansburgh  as 
India?”  Hinduism,  as  the  religion  of 
the  people  for  twenty  or  thirty  centuries, 
has  become  so  strongly  intrenched  in  the 
thought  and  habits  of  the  Hindus  that  to 
convert  them  to  Christianity  is  to  revolu¬ 
tionize  completely  Hindu  thought,  Hindu 
society,  and  Hindu  customs.  There  are 
among  them  a  body  of  men,  regarded  as 
divine,  who  have  assiduously  cultivated 
Hindu  philosophy,  and  are  prepared  at  all 
times  to  defend  their  ancient  and  elab¬ 
orate  faith,  and  the  divine  character  of 
their  sacred  books.  The  poor  Hindu  has 
the  utmost  confidence  in  them.  He  is 
happy  if  one  of  them  will  but  conde¬ 
scend  to  dip  his  foot  into  a  vessel 


22  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


of  water,  which  is  thereby  consecrated, 
and  is  drank  reverently.  Trust  greater 
than  this  no  religious  teacher  needs  to 
ask.  The  most  minute  system  of  caste 
known  to  man  separates  the  people  into 
classes,  and  builds  up  an  impassable  bar¬ 
rier  between  them.  Even  the  shadow  of 
a  low-caste  man  may  not  fall  on  those  of 
the  higher  castes  without  polluting  them. 
Formerly,  those  who  ventured  too  near 
the  sacred  person  of  a  Brahmin  could  be 
put  to  death  without  question.  The  Mo¬ 
hammedans,  numbering  about  forty  mill¬ 
ion  souls,  have  been  even  less  accessible 
than  the  Hindus.  They  hear  the  mission¬ 
aries  advance  and  defend  the  idea  of  one 
God  before  the  polytheistic  Hindus,  with 
approval.  O,  yes !  there  is  but  one  God, 
Allah,  and  Mohammed  is  his  prophet. 
They  will  not  hear  of  Jesus.  As  if  the 
difficulties  growing  out  of  diversity  of 
race  and  language,  old  religions  thoroughly 
established,  and  a  Satanic  system  of  caste, 
were  not  enough  to  discourage  the  mis¬ 
sionary,  his  own  countrymen  have  added 
to  them.  Every  European  resident  in 
India  represents,  to  the  native  mind,  the 
Christian  faith  which  the  missionaries 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  23 


preach.  Many  of  these  foreigners  lead 
immoral  lives,  and  the  Hindus  say  that 
the  religion  which  produces  such  men 
cannot  be  worth  much.  Thus  India  has 
been  a  field  of  great  difficulties. 

When  Carey  and  his  colleagues  of  the 
English  Baptist  Society  entered  India  in 
1793,  the  Danish  missionaries,  who  had 
been  at  work  on  the  Coromandel  coast 
nearly  a  century,  had  won  many  thousands 
from  heathenism ;  but  the  mission  was 
declining,  and  the  death  of  Schwartz,  the 
apostle  of  India,  virtually  closed  the  first 
period  of  Indian  missions.  The  second 
period  was  begun  by  the  Baptist  mission¬ 
aries,  who  worked  until  1813,  in  the  face 
of  the  prohibition  of  the  government, 
which  endeavored  to  conciliate  the  natives 
by  protecting  their  religions.  After  the 
restrictions  were  removed,  sixty-seven 
years  ago,  missionaries  from  Europe  and 
America  began  to  pour  into  India.  At 
the  close  of  the  first  quarter  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  century  eight  societies  were  repre¬ 
sented.  In  the  next  twenty-five  years  the 
eight  increased  to  nineteen  or  twenty,  and 
since  1850  the  number  has  doubled.  The 
forty  societies  now  at  work  in  India  have 


24  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

abundant  reason  for  hopefulness.  There 
is  no  thought  of  abandoning  the  field. 

The  conversion  of  China  seemed  to  be 
a  hopeless  task  when  Dr.  Morrison,  the 
first  missionary,  was  sent  to  Canton  by 
the  London  Society.  The  population  is 
much  larger  than  that  of  India,  embrac¬ 
ing,  perhaps,  350,000,000.  The  people 
are  peculiar  in  dress,  language,  religion, 
and  customs,  and  are  decidedly  averse  to 
communication  with  foreigners.  When 
Dr.  Morrison  arrived  in  Canton,  which 
was  the  only  port  open  to  trade,  in  1807, 
he  found  himself  surrounded  with  difficul¬ 
ties.  The  East  India  Company,  which 
had  refused  him  passage  in  their  ships, 
were  hostile  to  his  purpose,  and  he  was 
obliged  to  sail  from  New  York  ;  the  Por¬ 
tuguese  governor  and  the  Catholics  of 
Macao  were  bitterly  opposed  to  his  mis¬ 
sion  ;  and  he  was  denied  access  to  the 
Chinese.  He  taught,  however,  as  he  could 
make  opportunity,  and  baptized  his  first 
convert  in  1814.  He  also  translated  and 
printed  the  Scriptures,  against  the  stren¬ 
uous  opposition  of  the  Company,  who 
feared  that  mischief  would  come  of  it ;  in 
other  words,  that  trade  would  be  injured. 


THE  WOKLD  OF  MISSIONS.  25 

In  1842  five  ports  were  open  to  foreigners; 
but  it  is  only  since  1861  that  missionaries 
have  been  permitted  to  go  to  every  part 
of  the  empire.  Thirty  societies  now  have 
missionaries  in  China,  and  missions  are  be¬ 
ing  rapidly  extended  from  the  coast  cities 
and  villages  to  the  towns  and  hamlets  of 
the  interior  provinces. 

The  prevailing  religion  of  China  is  Con¬ 
fucianism.  The  ascendency  has  usually 
been  claimed  for  Buddhism ;  but  Dr. 
Legge,  Professor  of  Chinese  at  Oxford, 
and  perhaps  the  best  authority,  puts  the 
worship  of  Confucius  first,  and  will  not 
allow  that  there  are  more  than  45,000,000 
Buddhists  in  both  China  and  Japan.  It 
is  not  uncommon,  however,  for  a  China¬ 
man  to  hold  three  religions  at  the  same 
time — Confucianism,  Taouism,  and  Bud¬ 
dhism.  Ancestral  worship,  firm  belief  in 
the  superiority  of  Chinese  institutions, 
tenacious  attachment  to  Chinese  customs 
and  religions,  and  distrust  of  foreigners, 
are  the  chief  obstacles  met  by  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  ;  but  the  fact  that  a  Christian 
nation  forced  the  dreadful  opium  trade  on 
China  is  not  a  recommendation  of  the 
Christian  religion  to  the  Chinese,  nor  is  it 


26  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


suited  to  remove  their  prejudices  against 
foreigners.  The  populace  are  under  the 
influence  of  the  literary  class,  who  cun¬ 
ningly  feed  these  prejudices,  which  the 
generous  aid  given  by  the  Christians  to 
the  sufferers  by  the  recent  famine  has 
done  much  to  lessen.  Conversion  means 
in  China,  as  it  does  in  India,  separation 
from  family  and  friends,  and  often  ruin  in 
business. 

Japan,  with  its  35,000,000  of  popula¬ 
tion,  is  an  easier  and  more  fruitful,  as  well 
as  a  smaller,  field  than  China.  The  peo¬ 
ple  are  intelligent,  respectful,  and  pro¬ 
gressive,  and  adopt  Western  ideas  and 
customs  with  an  imexpected  facility.  The 
popular  religion  is  Buddhism,  which  has 
largely  superseded  Shintooism — the  State 
religion — whose  most  striking  feature  is 
the  multiplicity  of  its  gods.  Japan  opened 
two  of  its  ports  to  foreign  trade  in  1854. 
Since  then  the  restrictions  against  foreign¬ 
ers  have  been  gradually  removed,  and  the 
whole  empire  is  now  practically  free  to 
the  missionaries,  the  first  of  whom  were 
sent  out  in  1859  by  the  Episcopal,  Pres¬ 
byterian,  and  Reformed  Boards  of  the 
IJnited  States.  T wenty  societies  are  now 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  27 

at  work  in  Japan,  against  few  serious  ob¬ 
stacles,  and  with  great  encouragement. 

In  the  large  territory  lying  between  In¬ 
dia  and  China,  known  as  the  Indo-China 
Peninsula,  with  its  mixed  populations, 
influenced  on  the  one  side  by  China,  and 
on  the  other  by  India,  but  little  missionary 
work  has  been  done,  except  in  Burmah 
and  Siam.  In  Burmah  the  American 
Baptists  have  labored  since  1813,  with 
marvelous  success,  and  with  but  little 
assistance  from  one  or  two  other  socie¬ 
ties.  In  Siam  three  soc  eties  are  repre¬ 
sented.  In  the  Indian  Archipelago,  with 
upward  of  25,000,000  population,  Mo¬ 
hammedanism  is  the  prevailing  religion 
in  most  of  the  islands.  The  Dutch  socie¬ 
ties,  with  one  exception,  have  been  the 
sole  occupants  of  this  field,  and  they  have 
had  some  notable  successes.  But  there 
is  an  urgent  need  of  many  more  mission¬ 
aries  in  both  the  Archipelago  and  the 
Peninsula. 

Next  in  importance,  after  India  and 
China,  as  missionary  ground,  stands  Af¬ 
rica,  with  its  200,000,000  souls.  Three 
fourths  of  the  population  belong  to  the 
Negro  race,  who  are  heathens  of  the 


28  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

heathen.  We  find  man  in  Africa  in  his 
lowest  estate.  His  religion  is  a  system 
of  charms  and  sacrifices  to  propitiate  his 
gods  of  wood  and  stone ;  his  occupation 
is  war  and  rapine.  He  sells  his  captives 
into  slavery,  or  reserves  them  to  appease 
evil  spirits  by  their  blood,  or  to  minister 
to  his  cannibalistic  propensities.  He  is 
often  but  little  better  than  the  wild  beasts 
of  the  forests.  The  Dutch  settlers  of 
South  Africa  regarded  the  Bushmen  and 
Hottentots  as  scarcely  human,  and  never 
attempted  to  Christianize  them.  On  the 
contrary,  they  used  to  exclude  them  from 
their  churches,  by  a  notice  over  their 
church  doors,  that  “  Dogs  and  Hottentots” 
were  not  admitted.  Some  of  the  tribes 
are  more  intelligent  and  peaceable  than 
others — such  as  the  Makololo ;  but  most 
of  them  delight  in  war,  and  engage  in 
dreadful  practices.  Mohammedanism  is 
making  great  headway  in  Africa ;  but  it 
does  not  very  greatly  improve  the  condi¬ 
tion  of  those  who  accept  it,  nor  does  it 
prepare  the  way  for  the  introduction  of 
Christianity. 

Most  of  the  work  of  Protestant  missions 
has  been  done  on  the  West  Coast,  from 


THE  WOULD  OF  MISSIONS.  29 

the  Senegal  to  the  Equator,  and  in  South 
Africa.  The  Moravians  were  the  pioneers 
in  both  fields,  in  1737.  Near  the  close  of 
last  century  the  London  Society  sent  Dr. 
Vanderkemp  to  labor  among  the  Kafirs, 
in  South  Africa,  where  other  English, 
American,  and  Continental  societies  have 
since  established  important  and  success¬ 
ful  missions.  The  peculiar  difficulty  on 
the  West  Coast  has  been  an  unhealthy 
climate.  Many  missionaries  have  fallen 
under  it.  In  the  first  twelve  years  of  the 
Sierra  Leone  Mission  of  the  Church  So¬ 
ciety,  begun  in  1804,  thirty  European 
missionaries  were  buried  in  the  country 
of  the  “  white  man’s  grave.”  The  Basel 
Society  lost  ten  missionaries  in  one  year, 
and  the  Wesleyans  buried  forty  of  their 
missionaries  in  that  “  land  of  death.”  On 
the  East  Coast  but  little,  comparatively, 
has  been  done  south  of  Abyssinia,  where 
Swedish  missionaries  have  been  laboring, 
under  discouraging  circumstances.  The 
societies,  however,  are  fast  drawing  a  line 
of  circumvallation  around  the  lower  half 
of  the  Continent,  while  missionaries  are 
steadily  ascending  the  Niger  into  Soudan. 
From  South  Africa  the  mission  outposts 


20  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


stantially  three  whole  continents,  were 
scattered  in  great  numbers  over  the  other 
two,  and  were  supreme  in  the  islands  of 
the  sea.  The  societies  thus  had  the  world 
for  their  field  ;  but  they  had  only  a  few 
laborers  to  send  into  it.  The  most  they 
could  do  was  to  make  a  feeble  beginning, 
and  occupy  a  few  outposts,  with  the  hope 
that  God  and  the  Churches  would  co¬ 
operate  in  strengthening  their  hands. 
The  first  missionaries  were  widely  dis¬ 
tributed.  Those  of  the  English  Baptist 
Society  went  to  India ;  those  of  the  Lon¬ 
don  Society  to  the  South  Seas  ;  the  first 
mission  of  the  Church  Society  was  begun 
in  Africa;  the  Wesleyan  Society  planted 
its  first  mission  in  Ceylon ;  the  American 
Board  chose  India  for  its  first  field  ;  and 
the  first  missionaries  of  the  American 
Baptist  Union  began  their  work  in  Bur- 
mah.  The  Moravians  already  had  mis¬ 
sions  in  Greenland,  the  West  Indies,  Af¬ 
rica,  and  elsewhere ;  and  the  Dutch  and 
Danish  missionaries  had  made  beginnings 
in  the  East.  The  societies  entered  into 
new  fields  as  rapidly  as  possible ;  and 
some,  like  the  Church  Society,  are  repre¬ 
sented  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe. 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  31 


come  of  all  the  Protestant  societies  eighty 
years  ago.  The  society  means  to  stay  in 
Uganda,  though  Arab,  Jesuit,  and  savage 
combine  against  it.  The  London  Society 
has  planted  a  mission  in  Ujiji,  in  the  face 
of  similar  obstacles ;  and  the  Scotch 
Churches  have  important  mission  colonies 
on  and  near  Lake  Nyassa,  which  is  navi¬ 
gated  by  a  steamer,  carried  part  of  the 
way  from  the  coast  in  pieces,  on  men’s 
shoulders.  There  are  no  difficulties  so 
serious,  no  discouragements  so  great,  no 
sacrifices  so  heavy,  no  outlays  so  large, 
no  lives  so  precious,  in  the  sight  of  the 
Church  of  Christ,  as  to  induce  it  to  enter¬ 
tain  for  a  moment  the  thought  of  halting 
in  the  great  work  of  converting  Africa. 

One  of  the  most  aggressive  of  the  false 
religions  which  confront  Christianity  in 
mission  lands  is  that  of  Islam.  There  is 
a  mighty  battle  yet  to  be  fought  between 
them,  perhaps  in^  the  near  future.  As 
yet,  Christian  missions  have  made  but 
few  converts  among  the  masses  of  Mo¬ 
hammedans  in  Turkey,  in  Asia,  or  in 
Africa.  The  Turkish  Empire,  including 
Egypt,  has  a  population  of  about  forty 
millions,  of  whom  twelve  millions  are 


32  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

reckoned  as  belonging  to  the  Oriental 
Christian  Churches.  These  are  hardly 
worthy,  however,  to  be  called  Christians. 
Their  Christianity  is  of  a  very  corrupt 
character,  and  their  morals  are  no  better 
than  those  of  the  Turks,  who  regard  them 
with  contempt.  The  societies  have  been 
working  among  these  nominal  Christians, 
partly  because  they  stand  in  the  way  of 
success  among  the  Moslems,  and  partly 
because  they  are  not  allowed  to  preach 
openly  to  the  Moslems.  The  Church  So¬ 
ciety  was  the  first  to  attempt  a  reforma¬ 
tion  of  the  Oriental  Churches.  It  began 
missions  among  them  in  1815  ;  but  it 
soon  became  convinced  that  the  cause 
was  a  hopeless  one.  The  American 
Board,  which  has  been  almost  half  a  cent¬ 
ury  in  this  field,  was  for  several  years 
opposed  both  by  Christians  and  Turks  ; 
but  the  edict  of  toleration,  issued  in  1839. 
gave  its  missions  a  firm  footing  to  work 
upon,  and  its  efforts  have  been  crowned 
with  success.  The  Board  of  the  United 
Presbyterian  Church  of  America  has  an 
important  mission  among  the  Copts  of 
Egypt,  and  there  are  many  societies  at  work 
among  the  Nestorians  of  Syria  and  of 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  S3 


Persia.  The  government  of  Persia  watch¬ 
es  very  jealously  to  see  that  the  missiona¬ 
ries  do  not  convert  any  Moslems.  Al¬ 
though  few  of  the  followers  of  the  false 
prophet  have  been  reached  by  any  of 
these  missions,  the  influence  of  a  vital 
Christianity  has  had  an  effect  upon  them. 

The  most  wonderful  successes  of  Prot¬ 
estant  missions  have  been  won  among 
isolated  peoples — those  of  Polynesia  and 
Madagascar.  As  if  in  compensation  for 
some  of  the  hardest  and  most  discourag¬ 
ing  fields,  and  to  show  how  quickly  men 
can  be  brought  out  of  the  grossest  moral 
and  spiritual  darkness  into  the  light,  the 
life,  and  the  peace  of  the  Gospel,  the 
islands  of  the  sea  have  been  given  to 
Christianity.  The  people  of  Polynesia, 
who  are  believed  to  be  chiefly  of  Malay 
origin,  were  sunk,  when  Christian  mis¬ 
sions  found  them,  into  the  lowest  depths 
of  heathenism  and  social  degradation. 
They  worshiped  hideous  idols  and  natural 
objects  ;  they  offered  human  sacrifices ; 
they  feasted  on  human  flesh ;  they  gashed 
and  mutilated  themselves  to  appease  the 
anger  of  their  gods  ;  they  treated  woman 
as  a  polluted  creature.  The  first  mis- 
3 


34  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

sion  among  the  Polynesians  was  begun 
by  the  London  Society,  in  the  Society 
Islands,  in  1797,  and  the  first  convert  was 
baptized  in  1812.  The  American  Board 
began  a  mission  in  the  Sandwich  Islands 
in  1819;  the  Wesleyan  Society  sent  mis¬ 
sionaries  to  the  Friendly  Islands  in  1826 
and  to  the  Fiji  group  in  1835  ;  the  Church 
Society  entered  New  Zealand  in  1814; 
the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland  and  Canada 
are  working  together  in  the  New  Hebri¬ 
des  ;  and  the  London  Society,  aided 
chiefly  by  the  F riends,  has  wrought  great 
results  in  Madagascar  since  1816. 

There  are  many  fields  yet  undescribed ; 
but  we  may  not  do  more  than  mention 
them.  The  aboriginal  races  of  the  Amer¬ 
ican  continent  have  received  more  or  less 
attention  for  nearly  two  centuries  and  a 
half.  Many  of  the  Churches  of  the 
United  States  have  missions  and  schools 
among  the  Indians  of  their  own  country ; 
while  the  Moravians,  some  of  the  Cana¬ 
dian  Churches,  and  the  two  Anglican 
societies  are  laboring  in  the  vast  territory 
north  of  the  United  States.  In  Central 
and  South  America  the  Moravians  and 
some  English  societies  have  small  mis- 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


35 


sions  among  the  native  races.  Missions 
among  the  Jews  are  carried  on,  chiefly 
by  British  societies,  in  nearly  all  the 
countries  where  any  considerable  num¬ 
ber  of  that  race  are  found.  Last,  but  not 
least,  in  importance,  are  the  missions  of 
various  American  and  British  societies  in 
the  Catholic  States  of  Europe  and  Amer¬ 
ica.  Nothing  but  good  results  and  influ¬ 
ences  are  to  be  expected  from  these  mis¬ 
sions,  which  offer  a  pure  and  living  faith, 
in  place  of  a  corrupt  religion  and  increas¬ 
ing  infidelity. 

Having  now  considered  the  rise  and 
income  of  missionary  societies,  the  mis¬ 
sion-fields  and  their  difficulties,  it  is  next 
in  order  to  speak  of  the  agents  and  agen¬ 
cies  doing  the  work.  The  societies  se¬ 
lect  the  fields,  appoint  the  missionaries, 
and  gather  and  appropriate  the  funds.; 
but  the  actual  work  of  propagating  the 
Gospel  is  done  by  the  missionaries. 
These  must  be  picked  men,  having  pecul¬ 
iar  qualifications.  They  must  be  men 
of  high  Christian  character ;  they  must 
have  brains,  culture,  patience,  persever¬ 
ance,  zeal,  discretion,  and  the  spirit  of 
love  and  self-sacrifice.  Their  duties  re- 


8G  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

quire  the  exercise  of  all  their  faculties. 
They  must  study  the  people  to  whom 
they  are  sent;  their  character,  history, 
religion,  language,  customs,  and  how  to 
attract  and  influence  them.  Preaching, 
lectures,  conversation,  schools,  religious 
literature,  medical  service,  and  other 
methods  must  be  used  ;  but  the  example 
of  a  devoted  Christian  life  is  of  the  ut¬ 
most  importance.  While  not  all  the 
missionaries  have  measured  up  to  this 
standard,  the  fields  are  filled  with  noble 
men,  and  noble  women  too.  The  value 
of  women  missionaries  is  much  better 
appreciated  now  than  it  used  to  be. 
They  are  able  to  do  work  among  their 
own  sex,  which  men,  whom  they  equal  in 
courage,  devotion,  and  determination,  can¬ 
not  do.  Scattered  over  the  various  fields 
of  the  world  are  about  2,600  ordained 
missionaries,  of  whom  the  American  so¬ 
cieties  furnish  nearly  700,  the  British  so¬ 
cieties  about  1,300,  and  the  Continental 
societies  600.  But  the  ordained  mission¬ 
aries  constitute  only  a  small  part  of  the 
great  force  at  work.  Besides  the  numer¬ 
ous  lay  missionaries  and  teachers,  male 
and  female,  there  are  thousands  of  native 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  o7 

helpers,  ordained  and  unordained.  Per¬ 
haps,  including  both  foreign  and  native 
agents,  there  is  in  all  an  army  of  25,000 
or  30,000  workers,  where,  at  the  beginning 
of  the  century,  there  were  less  than  200 
ordained  missionaries  and  few  native  as¬ 
sistants.  The  educational,  the  literary, 
and  the  medical  arms  of  the  mission  serv¬ 
ice  have  proved  to  be  of  great  import¬ 
ance  and  efficiency.  In  countries  like 
China  and  India,  and  in  Jewish  missions, 
schools  are  indispensable  if  the  children 
are  to  be  reached ;  while  in  Africa  and 
in  the  South  Seas,  where  ignorance  is 
dense,  education  is  equally  necessary  to 
produce  intelligent  and  useful  Christians. 
Higher  schools  for  training  natives  for 
pastors  and  teachers  are  found  in  most 
of  the  fields ;  and  sometimes  instruction 
is  given  in  the  industrial  arts  also,  as  at 
the  Lovedale  Institution,  in  South  Africa. 
The  number  of  schools  has  been  esti¬ 
mated  by  Dr.  Christlieb  at  12,000,  with 
perhaps  more  than  400,000  scholars,  all 
of  whom  receive  careful  instruction  in  the 
doctrines  of  the  Bible.  In  this  training 
of  the  youth  lies  the  great  promise  of  the 
future  to  heathen  lands.  The  press  has 


38  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

been  from  the  first  a  powerful  agency  in 
mission  work.  Books  and  tracts  and 
periodicals  are  circulated  easily  and  wide¬ 
ly,  and  multiply  tenfold  the  power  and  in¬ 
fluence  of  the  missionary.  Numerous 
agents  of  the  Bible  societies  are  scatter¬ 
ing  the  Scriptures  (which  have  been 
printed  in  226  languages)  like  autumn 
leaves  in  many  a  land,  and  benighted 
souls  have  obtained  light  from  the  blessed 
pages  before  they  heard  the  voice  of 
the  missionary.  The  medical  art  has 
been  the  key  to  unlock  doors  which  oth¬ 
erwise  would  have  remained  closed. 
Whether  in  the  hospital  or  in  house  visita¬ 
tion,  the  medical  missionary  does  not  fail 
to  show  his  patients  how  important  it  is 
to  care  for  the  condition  of  the  soul.  His 
skill  in  curing  physical  ailments  begets  a 
confidence  in  him  which  gives  effect  to 
his  religious  teachings.  Twenty  years 
ago  there  were  but  twenty  medical  mis¬ 
sionaries  in  the  field.  Now  there  are 
nearly  a  hundred,  and  there  is  a  society  in 
Scotland  which  devotes  its  attention  to  the 
training  of  men  for  this  service. 

It  remains  now  to  consider  the  results. 
Missionaries  have  been  at  work  many 


THE  WOELD  OF  MISSIONS.  39 


years,  and  millions  of  dollars  have  been 
expended.  The  results  ought,  therefore, 
to  be  large,  even  after  due  allowance  has 
been  made  for  the  preparatory  stages  of 
missions  and  for  special  difficulties.  But 
what  shall  be  included  in  the  term  “  re¬ 
sults  ”  ?  The  “  results  ”  which  the 
Churches  look  for  are  spiritual  in  their 
nature,  but  many  desire  to  know  the 
monetary  value  of  missions.  Some  peo¬ 
ple  cannot  grasp  the  idea  of  success  ex¬ 
cept  in  the  form  of  dollars  and  cents.  So 
much  money,  they  reason,  has  been  in¬ 
vested  in  missions.  How  much  have  we 
received  in  return  ?  There  is  little  diffi¬ 
culty  in  answering  this  question,  because 
there  is  no  doubt  that  missions  have  a 
value  to  commerce,  as  well  as  a  spirit¬ 
ual  value.  They  have  conferred  great 
benefits  on  mankind  in  commerce,  morals, 
politics,  society,  science,  and  education, 
and  it  is  proper  to  include  these  benefits  in 
estimating  “results.”  Missions  exert  an 
unmeasured  influence  on  man  in  all  his 
relations  in  life.  They  have  gone  to  the 
savage  and  degraded  people  of  the  South 
Seas  and  Africa,  and  wrought  a  revolu¬ 
tion  among  them.  Then  they  were  en- 


40  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

gaged  in  wars  of  plunder,  devastation, 
and  slavery,  without  peace  or  security, 
society  or  industry ;  now  they  form  peace¬ 
ful  communities,  with  society  and  govern¬ 
ment,  and  follow  industrial  pursuits,  thus 
contributing  to,  and  receiving  from,  the 
markets  of  the  world.  Sir  Thomas  Fow- 
ell  Buxton  says  that  most  of  the  trade 
of  Lagos,  which  amounts  to  $4,000,000 
a  year,  is  due  to  the  industry  of  the 
natives  of  Sierra  Leone,  trained  under 
missionary  auspices.  A  hundred  years 
ago  Captain  Cook  was  murdered  by  the 
savages  of  the  Sandwich  Islands ;  now 
Honolulu  is  an  important  commercial 
port,  with  a  trade  of  over  $3,000,000  a 
year.  Other  islands,  which  used  to  be 
the  terror  of  shipwrecked  sailors,  are 
now  valued  for  their  commerce,  and  it  is 
estimated  that  every  additional  mission¬ 
ary  sent  to  the  South  Seas  is  worth 
$50,000  a  year  to  British  commerce.  Com¬ 
mercial  enterprise  follows  closely  after 
the  central  African  missions,  to  which 
thrifty  merchants  of  Scotland  and  En¬ 
gland  gave  liberally,  believing  that  the 
money  was  well  invested.  A  merchant 
urged  the  missionaries  in  New  Guinea  to 


THE  WOELD  OF  MISSIONS.  41 

push  forward  as  rapidly  as  possible,  in 
order,  he  said,  to  develop  trade.  The 
missions  in  India  have  been  repeatedly 
recognized  by  Indian  statesmen  as  of 
the  utmost  value  to  the  government. 
Lord  Lawrence,  who  was  Governor-Gen¬ 
eral  of  India,  said  that  the  missionaries 
had  done  more  than  all  other  agencies 
combined  to  benefit  India.  Lord  Napier 
said  missions  “  go  hand  in  hand  with  the 
government  in  raising  the  intellectual 
standard  of  the  Indian  people  and  in  form¬ 
ing  for  the  service  of  the  State  a  body  of 
public  servants  of  intelligence  and  moral¬ 
ity.”  In  Turkey  the  civilizing  and  elevat¬ 
ing  influence  of  Protestant  missions,  af¬ 
firmed  by  every  intelligent  observer,  is 
immeasurably  great.  The  same  is  true 
of  other  mission  fields.  The  Gospel 
every-where  makes  moral,  intelligent,  in¬ 
dustrious,  and  useful  citizens. 

There  is  another  class  of  results — the 
advantages  which  science  has  received 
from  the  labors  and  observations  of  the 
missionaries.  If  Sydney  Smith  were  alive 
to-day,  he  would  see  the  men  of  whom 
he  spoke  contemptuously  as  “  consecrated 
cobblers  ”  receiving  high  honors.  He 


42  THE  WOKLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


would  find  in  nearly  every  issue  of  the 
two  leading  English  literary  weeklies 
(the  Athenceum  and  the  Academy)  notices 
of  missionary  travels  and  exploration. 
He  would  observe  how  frequently  mis¬ 
sionaries  appear  in  the  proceedings  of  the 
Royal  Geographical  Society,  as  authors 
of  papers  or  as  recipients  of  honors.  The 
bones  of  a  missionary,  known  wherever 
books  are  known  for  his  labors  and 
travels  in  Africa,  lie  in  Westminster  Ab¬ 
bey,  and  his  monument  in  Edinburgh  is 
not  needed  to  perpetuate  the  memory  of 
one  of  England’s  noblest  citizens,  David 
Livingstone.  The  contributions  of  the 
missionaries  to  geographical  knowledge 
have  been  numerous  and  important; 
but  they  have  also  furnished  copious  and 
valuable  materials  for  the  students  of 
philology  and  ethnography.  They  have 
reduced  many  unwritten  languages  to 
writing,  and  compiled  numerous  dictiona¬ 
ries  and  grammars.  These  works,  which 
are  indispensable  to  the  study  of  the  his¬ 
tory,  separation,  and  migrations  of  the 
great  human  family  and  the  kinship  of 
peoples  and  tongues,  are  now  easily  ac¬ 
cessible. 


THE  WOULD  OF  MISSIONS.  43 

All  these  and  other  material  results, 
which  alone  would  justify  the  existence 
of  missions,  the  Church  of  Christ  looks 
upon  as  incidental.  The  single  aim  of 
missions  is  the  conversion  of  souls,  the 
value  of  which  no  man  can  estimate. 
They  were  bought  with  a  price  which 
would  not  have  been  paid  for  all  the  uni¬ 
verse  besides ;  and  all  the  money  which 
has  been  spent  on  missions  is  as  nothing 
in  the  sight  of  God  compared  with  the 
worth  of  the  soul  of  the  most  degraded 
heathen  of  the  wilds  of  Africa,  the  jungles 
of  India,  or  the  icy  solitudes  of  Greenland. 
If  missions  have  brough  tone  soul  to  the 
knowledge,  love,  and  worship  of  the  one 
true  God,  they  have  done  that  over  which 
the  angels  in  heaven  rejoice.  But  the 
fruits  of  missions  are  not  few  or  hard  to 
find.  Every  mission  and  every  mission 
station  that  has  been  planted  bears  them. 
In  India,  which  has  been,  perhaps,  the 
hardest  field  of  all,  there  are  about  95,000 
native  Christian  communicants ;  in  Afri¬ 
ca,  80,000 ;  in  Polynesia  and  Australasia, 
73,000;  in  Madagascar,  68,000;  in  China 
and  Japan,  18,000  ;  inBurmah,  20,000.  In 
these  fields  alone  there  are  upwards  of 


44  THE  WOULD  OF  MISSIONS. 

350,000  communicants.  The  total  in  all 
fields  is,  perhaps,  over  half  a  million,  be¬ 
sides  the  adherents,  (those  who  have  re¬ 
nounced  heathenism  or  other  untrue  re¬ 
ligions  and  accepted  Christianity,)  who 
are  more  than  twice  as  numerous.  There 
must  be  fully  1,700,000  souls  who,  as 
members  and  adherents,  own  and  glorify 
the  name  of  Christ.  But  these  are  not 
all  the  fruits.  Thousands,  having  lived 
the  life  of  the  righteous,  have  gone  to  re¬ 
ceive  the  reward  of  the  righteous. 

And  what  shall  I  say  more?  For  the 
time  would  fail  me  to  tell  of  Madagascar, 
and  of  Fiji,  and  of  Hawaii,  and  of  Bur- 
mah,  and  of  peoples  who,  through  faith 
and  the  preaching  of  missionaries,  sub¬ 
dued  the  kingdoms  of  darkness  and  super¬ 
stition,  wrought  righteousness,  quenched 
the  violence  of  war,  escaped  from  idolatry 
and  barbarism,  out  of  weakness  were 
made  strong,  waxed  valiant  in  fight,  and 
turned  to  flight  the  army  of  aliens  which 
had  encompassed  them.  That  they  might 
obtain  a  better  resurrection,  they  have 
had  trials  of  mockings  and  scourgings,  of 
bonds  and  imprisonment ;  they  have  been 
tempted,  cast  off  by  family  and  friends ; 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  45 

they  have  been  destitute,  afflicted,  tor¬ 
mented,  esteeming  the  reproach  of  Christ 
greater  riches  than  the  treasures  of  Egypt. 

As  the  constraining  love  of  Christ  shall 
run  from  heart  to  heart,  like  celestial  fire 
melting  away  the  masses  of  pagans  and 
unbelievers,  the  time  of  the  fulfillment  of 
the  prophecy  of  John  will  be  near  at  hand, 
when  it  shall  be  said  :  **  The  kingdoms  of 
this  world  are  become  the  kingdoms  of 
our  Lord,  and  of  his  Christ ;  and  he  shall 
reign  for  ever  and  ever." 


46  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


II. 

RECENT  PROGRESS  OF  FOREIGN 
MISSIONS. 

Three  of  the  most  important  elements 
of  missionary  progress  are  conversions, 
extension,  and  self-support.  Without  con¬ 
versions  missions  would  be  a  failure ; 
without  extension  they  would  become 
isolated  efforts  ;  without  native  co-opera¬ 
tion  they  could  not  effect  great  and  per¬ 
manent  results.  The  promise  of  the  fu¬ 
ture,  the  hope  of  the  ultimate  conversion 
of  the  world,  depends,  therefore,  on  the 
success  attending  these  three  features  of 
missionary  work. 

What  are  the  present  aspects  of  foreign 
missions?  Is  there  reason  for  hopeful¬ 
ness  ?  A  general  survey  of  the  whole 
field  will  give  little  cause  for  despondency. 
At  no  previous  period  since  the  rise  of 
modern  missions  have  the  conversions 
been  so  numerous  as  within  the  past  year 
or  two.  The  Churches  have  never  been 
more  sensible  of  the  weight  of  the  obliga¬ 
tion  resting  upon  them,  while  native  mem- 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


47 


bers  have  never  given  clearer  and  stronger 
evidences  of  their  zeal,  liberality,  and  de¬ 
votion.  There  are,  of  course,  some  back¬ 
ward  currents,  some  disappointments ; 
but,  on  the  whole,  the  signs  of  progress 
are  unmistakable.  The  missionaries  meet 
with  fewer  obstacles  than  formerly.  Peo¬ 
ples  are,  from  various  causes,  becoming 
more  accessible,  and  missionary  influence 
is  constantly  extending  and  growing  in 
power. 

The  lingering  effects  of  the  war  with 
Russia,  the  prevalence  of  political  disor¬ 
ders,  and  a  severe  famine  in  Asia  Minor, 
have  affected  somewhat  the  prosperity  of 
the  American  Board  in  Turkey.  The 
missionaries  have  been  restricted  in  their 
work  by  the  dangers  of  travel  and  the 
general  feeling  of  insecurity.  One  of 
them,  Dr.  Parsons,  was  cruelly  murdered 
near  Nico media,  at  night,  while  he  slept 
by  the  roadside,  and  the  government  was 
unwilling  to  bring  the  three  confessed 
murderers  to  justice,  because  they  are 
Moslems.  It  is  to  be  observed,  however, 
that  the  missionaries  have  won  the  re¬ 
spect  of  nearly  all  classes  of  the  popula¬ 
tion.  The  hostility  of  the  Armenians  is 


48  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSION'S. 

chiefly  a  thing  of  the  past.  They  are  be¬ 
coming  more  and  more  friendly,  and  oc¬ 
casionally  go  so  far  as  to  invite  the  mis¬ 
sionaries  to  preach  in  their  churches.  As 
to  the  Moslems,  a  few  are  diligent  readers 
of  the  Bible;  but  the  day  has  not  yet 
come  when  the  Gospel  can  be  preached 
to  them  openly.  New  churches  have 
been  organized  the  past  year,  new  schools 
opened,  native  pastors  ordained,  and  many 
converts  received.  There  was  a  remark¬ 
able  revival  at  Marash,  in  which  hundreds 
were  converted.  Daily  meetings  were 
held,  and  sometimes  a  thousand  people 
were  in  attendance.  One  of  the  results 
of  this  revival  was  the  raising  of  $2,200 
for  a  girls’  seminary,  besides  the  usual 
contributions  for  the  churches  and  schools 
of  the  city.  Girls’  schools  are  growing 
in  favor,  and  all  the  schools  are  gaining 
in  scholars.  The  schools  of  the  Eastern 
Turkish  Mission  gained  23  per  cent.,  and 
there  was  an  increase  of  48  per  cent,  in 
contributions.  Other  indications  of  an  ad¬ 
vance  toward  self-support  are  to  be  seen, 
particularly  in  the  plans  of  a  native  organ¬ 
ization  in  the  Western  Turkey  Mission 
for  connecting  native  members  more  close- 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  40 


ly  with  the  evangelical  and  educational 
work  of  the  mission,  and  for  developing 
the  resources  of  the  Churches.  It  is  grati¬ 
fying  to  learn  that  the  Board  is  looking 
forward  to  the  close  of  its  missionary 
work  among  the  Armenians.  Good  re¬ 
sults  from  the  circulation  of  the  Scriptures 
appear  on  every  hand.  “  I  have  seen 
God,”  said  a  Moslem.  “How?”  asked 
the  missionary.  “  In  the  Gospels,”  was 
the  reply. 

The  Presbyterian  Missions  in  Persia 
have  been  greatly  blessed  by  revivals,  in 
which  many  Nestorians  and  a  few  Jews 
have  been  converted.  The  Moslems  are 
more  accessible  than  in  some  other  coun¬ 
tries,  and  a  few  have  come  under  Chris¬ 
tian  influence  and  training.  The  numer¬ 
ous  schools  in  Syria  and  the  Protestant 
college  at  Beirut  are  doing  faithful  work, 
with  less  encouragement  than  they  de¬ 
serve. 

The  only  regularly  organized  mission 
in  Egypt  (that  of  the  United  Presbyterian 
Church  of  America)  is  being  gradually 
extended.  It  now  has  stations  scattered 
along  the  Nile  from  the  Delta  to  the  First 
Cataract.  Its  schools  have  gained  325 
4 


50  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSION'S. 


scholars,  and  there  have  been  108  con¬ 
verts.  The  schools  gather  in  Copts, 
Greeks,  Roman  Catholics,  and  Moslems. 
The  work  for  women  presents  some  en¬ 
couraging  aspects,  and  there  is  promise 
in  the  fact  that  the  contributions  the  past 
year  amounted  to  an  average  of  $8  for 
each  of  the  985  members. 

The  great  field  of  India  is  yielding  a 
glorious  harvest.  The  years  spent  in 
patient  preparation  of  the  soil,  and  in 
seed-sowing,  have  not  been  spent  in  vain. 
The  results  for  many  years  seemed  small ; 
but  it  is  well  to  remember  that  the  seed 
of  the  Gospel,  when  faithfully  scattered, 
will  surely  germinate  sooner  or  later.  My 
word,  says  the  great  Husbandman,  shall 
not  return  to  me  void.  In  the  generous 
response  of  the  Christians  of  Europe  and 
America  to  the  appeals  for  the  famine- 
stricken  millions  of  India,  a  year  or  two 
ago,  the  grateful  Hindus  recognized  a  love 
and  a  sympathy  which  their  own  religion 
could  not  produce.  If  Christianity  could 
lead  men  to  care  so  much  for  a  people 
widely  separated  from  them,  it  must  be  a 
true  religion  from  God.  Believing  this, 
some  50,000  or  60,000  persons  renounced 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  51 

heathenism  and  became  Christian  inquir¬ 
ers.  The  great  majority  of  these  converts 
were  received  by  the  two  Anglican  socie¬ 
ties  and  the  American  Baptist  Union; 
and  the  reports  of  the  missionaries  of 
these  organizations  agree  in  stating  that 
few  have  gone  back  to  heathenism,  though 
many  of  them  have  been  under  strong 
temptation.  The  steadfast  character  of 
Indian  converts,  generally,  is  one  of  the 
most  promising  features  of  mission  work 
in  that  country.  Sir  Richard  Temple 
says  the  apostates  in  South  India  may  al¬ 
most  be  counted  on  one’s  lingers. 

The  accessions  were  less  numerous  the 
past  year ;  but  they  are  still  beyond  the 
normal  rate  of  increase.  The  net  gain 
of  members  in  connection  with  the  mis¬ 
sions  of  the  Society  for  the  Propagation 
of  the  Gospel  in  the  Diocese  of  Madras 
was  4,182.  Bishop  Sargent  says  the 
masses  in  the  Tinnevelly  have  ceased  to 
offer  objections  to  Christianity,  and  are 
apparently  getting  ready  to  renounce  idol¬ 
atry.  The  older  converts,  both  men  and 
women,  have  become  active  workers 
among  their  heathen  neighbors  since  the 
great  accessions  began,  and  the  number 


52  TIIE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

of  ordained  natives  has  been  greatly  in¬ 
creased.  The  missions  of  the  Church 
Missionary  Society  gained  3, 135  adherents. 
The  rate  of  increase  in  the  American 
Baptist  mission  among  the  Telugus  con¬ 
tinues  to  be  very  high.  Mr.  Clough,  in  a 
tour  of  two  months,  at  the  beginning  of 
the  present  year,  baptized  1,016  persons. 
He  writes  that  he  never  had  such  atten¬ 
tive  hearers  of  all  castes  before.  He  be¬ 
lieves  that  the  masses  are  about  to  re¬ 
nounce  Hinduism.  There  are  other  indi¬ 
cations  of  the  approaching  downfall  of 
heathenism  in  South  India.  In  North 
India  some  of  the  great  centers  of  popu¬ 
lation  have  scarcely  been  touched,  and 
Hinduism  and  Mohammedanism  are  both 
strong  and  aggressive.  The  Methodist 
missionaries  speak  of  the  growing  regard 
of  Moslems  for  Christianity,  and  of  their 
willingness  to  admit  that  men  may  be 
saved  by  obeying  the  prophet  Jesus;  and 
the  last  report  of  the  American  Board 
notices  a  similar  friendliness  among  the 
Moslems  of  Bombay. 

The  normal  rate  of  increase  of  Chris¬ 
tian  communicants  in  India  has  been 
rising  steadily.  From  1850  to  1861  it 


THE  WOULD  OF  MISSIONS.  53 


was  only  938  yearly;  from  1861  to  1871 
it  was  2,784;  while  from  1873  to  1878  it 
has  been  9,000  yearly.  The  increase  of 
the  past  year  has  unquestionably  been 
large;  but  it  is  not  accompanied  by  any 
slackening  of  effort.  All  the  great  agen¬ 
cies  co-operating  for  the  conversion  of 
India  are  becoming  stronger.  The  edu¬ 
cational  work  is  attaining  vast  propor¬ 
tions.  The  government  subsidies  amount 
to  no  less  than  $650,000  yearly.  Schools 
for  Hindu  girls  are  growing  in  favor, 
and  there  are  more  zenanas  open  to 
female  missionaries  than  they  can  attend 
to. 

The  missions  are  gradually  expanding. 
New  stations  are  being  opened  and  new 
villages  reached  by  itinerating  tours.  The 
increase  of  native  pastors  releases  mis¬ 
sionaries,  and  permits  new  fields  to  be 
opened,  while  the  native  Churches,  by 
cheerfully  contributing  toward  their  own 
support,  make  it  possible  to  strengthen 
the  newer  missions.  The  development 
of  the  native  Churches  is  full  of  encour¬ 
agement.  Those  of  the  English  Baptist 
missions  are  giving  proof  of  increased 
vitality  and  independence.  Members  who 


54  THE  WOULD  OF  MISSIONS. 

have  no  gold  or  silver  give  a  handful  of 
rice  daily,  or  other  produce.  The  contri¬ 
butions  the  past  year  amounted  to  no  less 
than  $28,000.  In  the  Arcot  Mission  of 
the  Reformed  Church  of  America  the 
native  contributions  have  been  nearly 
doubled  in  the  past  year.  The  2,500 
members  of  the  Methodist  mission  in 
North  India  raised  $9,000,  and  similar 
reports  are  made  for  other  societies.  The 
native  members  of  the  missions  of  the 
Church  Missionary  Society  are  forming 
councils,  in  which  self-support,  independ¬ 
ence,  and  other  questions,  are  boldly  and 
intelligently  discussed.  They  look  for¬ 
ward  anxiously  to  the  establishment  of  an 
independent  native  Church,  which  shall 
embrace,  not  the  members  of  one  denomi¬ 
nation  only,  but  those  of  all  Evangelical 
Churches ;  and  which  shall  be  fashioned, 
not  after  foreign  models,  but  according 
to  the  needs  and  ideas  of  the  natives 
themselves.  They  abhor  divisions.  At 
the  Council  formed  for  Bengal  this  year 
their  idea  of  union  was  beautifully  illus¬ 
trated.  Brahmin  and  Moslem  sat  cross- 
legged  side  by  side  at  their  meals,  and 
forgot  all  their  former  prejudices  of  caste 


THE  WOULD  OF  MISSIONS.  55 

and  religion  in  the  sweet  communion  of 
Christian  fellowship. 

The  American  Baptist  missions  in  Bur- 
mah  are  growing  in  prosperity.  Self- 
support  seems  to  be  a  cardinal  doctrine 
with  the  Bassein  Churches.  They  do  not 
hesitate  to  assume  the  heaviest  financial 
burdens.  They  had  just  erected  fine 
buildings  for  the  Bassein  Institute  and 
paid  for  them  ;  but  they  undertook  last 
year,  in  addition  to  their  regular  contribu¬ 
tions,  to  raise  an  endowment  of  $35,000 
for  the  Institute.  The  missionaries 
thought  they  were  attempting  too  much, 
but  they  were  not  afraid  to  undertake  the 
task.  They  assessed  each  member  $10, 
and  have,  doubtless,  already  obtained  the 
whole  sum.  The  total  amount  raised  last 
year  was  nearly  $31,000 — a  gain  of  al¬ 
most  $7,000.  The  Churches  believe 
heartily  in  schools,  and  they  are  doing 
something  among  the  heathen  tribes. 
The  gain  of  members  was  nearly  800. 
The  American  Presbyterian  missionaries 
have  had  an  encouraging  year  in  the  hard 
field  of  Siam,  having  gained  over  fifty  per 
cent,  in  communicants. 

For  obvious  reasons  missions  in  China 


56  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

are  less  advanced  than  those  in  India. 
India  has  been  open  to  the  Gospel  since 
1813;  China,  except  a  few  ports,  only 
since  1861.  Besides,  the  opium  trade, 
forced  on  China  by  a  Christian  nation,  is 
a  difficulty  in  the  way  of  missions,  which 
is  not  generally  fully  appreciated.  The 
missionaries  have  to  deal  with  it  con¬ 
stantly  ;  they  cannot  escape  it.  A  relig¬ 
ion,  say  the  Chinese,  which  permits  its 
followers  to  engage  in  so  vile  a  traffic 
must  be  wrong  somewhere.  Why,  we 
are  constrained  to  ask,  should  not  gov¬ 
ernments,  as  well  as  individuals,  have  a 
conscience  ? 

The  missionaries  report  some  very  favor¬ 
able  indications  in  China.  There  is  much 
less  of  violent  opposition.  There  are,  it 
is  true,  occasional  outbreaks,  in  which 
Christians  are  attacked  and  mission  prop¬ 
erty  destroyed  ;  but  missionaries  now 
travel  in  all  parts  of  the  Empire  without 
molestation.  All  China  is  open  to  mis¬ 
sions  as  never  before.  Agents  of  the 
China  Inland  Mission  are  traversing  the 
neglected  western  provinces,  selling  books 
and  preaching,  and  no  man  hinders. 
European  women,  in  the  employ  of  this 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  57 

pioneer  society,  have  gone  to  these  prov¬ 
inces  the  present  year,  to  work  among 
those  of  their  own  sex,  by  whom  they  are 
most  cordially  received.  The  missiona¬ 
ries  say  these  people  are  more  accessible 
than  those  of  the  coast  provinces. 

Most  of  the  numerous  missions  in  China 
are  in  a  condition  of  prosperity.  In  the 
provinces  visited  by  the  recent  terrible 
famine  the  results  have  been  particularly 
gratifying.  The  people  were  deeply 
moved  by  the  relief  labors  of  the  mis¬ 
sionaries,  and  they  were  scarce  restrained 
from  offering  ancestral  worship  to  Mis¬ 
sionary  Whiting,  who  died  while  doing 
his  utmost  in  behalf  of  the  sufferers. 
They  heard  the  Gospel  more  attentively, 
especially  at  places  which  had  been  vis¬ 
ited  previously,  and  many  became  inquir¬ 
ers.  Idolatry  seems  to  be  losing  its  hold 
in  North  China,  and  some  deep-seated 
prejudices  are  wearing  away.  The  con¬ 
version  of  a  heathen  temple  into  a  Chris¬ 
tian  church,  and  the  calling  of  medical 
missionaries  to  attend  the  wife  of  the  Gov¬ 
ernor-General  of  the  Province  of  Peh- 
chih-li  are  favorable  omens.  The  native 
Christians  freely  contribute  out  of  their 


58  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

poverty,  and  a  number  of  Churches,  after 
hard  struggles,  have  become  self-support¬ 
ing.  The  missions  of  the  American  Mis¬ 
sionary  Association,  and  the  Methodist 
and  other  societies  among  the  Chinese  on 
the  Pacific  Coast  of  our  own  country,  are 
very  successful. 

In  Japan  missions  have  had  encourage¬ 
ment  from  the  beginning.  Results  have 
appeared  promptly  in  response  to  effort, 
and  many  societies  have  been  attracted 
to  this  field  on  account  of  its  great  prom¬ 
ise.  Several  new  missions  have  been 
established  within  two  or  three  years,  and 
stations  are  being  opened  in  various  parts 
of  the  empire.  One  of  the  notable  events 
of  the  past  year  was  the  completion  of 
the  translation  of  the  New  Testament  in¬ 
to  the  Japanese  language.  The  gain  in 
communicants  is  very  encouraging.  The 
Union  Presbytery,  representing  the  mis¬ 
sions  of  the  Reformed  and  Presbyterian 
Boards  of  the  United  States  and  the 
United  Presbyterian  Church  of  Scotland, 
has  nearly  1,200  communicants,  the  in¬ 
crease  in  the  past  two  years  being  95 
per  cent.  The  fact  that  of  the  sixteen 
Churches  of  the  American  Board  twelve 


THE  WOBLD  OF  MISSIONS.  59 


receive  no  aid  from  the  mission  treasury 
is  one  of  great  significance. 

The  history  of  African  missions  is  a 
varied  history.  It  is  a  combination  of 
successes  and  reverses,  of  advances  and 
retreats,  of  encouragements  and  discour¬ 
agements.  It  tells  of  noble  sacrifices,  of 
great  labors,  of  grand  enterprises,  of  im¬ 
portant  discoveries.  Slavery,  war,  rum, 
oppression,  and  disease,  mingle  their  som¬ 
ber  hues  with  the  bright  on  nearly  every 
page.  The  latest  chapter  is  of  this  check¬ 
ered  character.  The  great  missions  on 
the  lakes  have  both  gained  and  lost. 
The  work  of  the  Church  Missionary  So¬ 
ciety  in  Uganda  has  been  seriously  inter¬ 
rupted.  First  came  the  French  Jesuits, 
and  tried  to  prove  to  the  king  that  the 
Roman  Catholic  was  the  only  true  religion. 
Next,  the  Arabs  plotted  against  the  mis¬ 
sionaries,  who  for  many  weeks  were  in 
disfavor  and  danger.  After  this,  there 
was  a  revival  of  the  old  heathen  religion. 
Most  of  the  time  the  missionaries  could 
do  nothing ;  but  in  the  intervals  in  which 
they  enjoyed  the  king’s  favor  they  worked 
with  great  success.  Three  of  the  chiefs 
visited  England  in  company  with  two  of 


60  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

the  missionaries,  and  it  is  hoped  that  the 
influence  of  this  visit  will  help  to  restore 
the  mission  to  the  favor  of  the  king  and 
his  advisers.  Some  progress  has  been 
made  in  establishing  stations  on  the  route 
to  the  lake  from  Zanzibar.  The  London 
Society  lost  two  of  the  members  of  its 
mission  on  Lake  Tanganyika,  and  its  secre¬ 
tary,  Dr.  Mullens,  who  was  leading  a  re¬ 
enforcement  from  the  coast.  The  mission 
has  established  a  station  at  Mirambo’s 
capital,  a  very  important  center.  Another 
station  is  to  be  opened  on  the  west  coast 
of  the  lake,  and  a  third  on  the  east  coast. 
The  Arab  slave-dealers  are,  of  course, 
hostile  to  the  mission  ;  but  the  people 
generally  welcome  it.  The  western  shore 
of  Lake  Nyassa  has  been  thoroughly  ex¬ 
plored  by  the  missionaries  of  the  Scottish 
Free  Church,  who  recommend  that  the 
mission  be  removed  from  Livingstonia  to 
a  place  half  way  between  the  northern 
and  southern  ends  of  the  lake,  on  the 
west  shore.  Livingstonia  proves  to  be  very 
unhealthy,  two  of  the  missionaries  having 
died  of  fever.  The  prospects  of  the  mis¬ 
sion  are  good,  and  the  same  is  true  of  the 
mission  of  the  Kirk  at  Blantyre,  south- 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  61 

east  of  Livingstonia,  where  a  large  indus¬ 
trial  colony  is  being  gathered.  The  Uni¬ 
versities’  Mission  is  also  receiving  and 
educating  many  ex-slaves.  The  Cardiff 
Livingstone  Mission,  on  the  West  Coast 
of  Africa,  has  nine  missionaries  on  the  way 
up  the  Congo  to  Stanley’s  Pool,  and  has 
sent  out  five  more ;  while  the  Congo  Mis¬ 
sion  of  the  English  Baptist  Society  is  push¬ 
ing  on  slowly  from  San  Salvador  toward 
the  same  point.  In  South  Central  Africa 
the  London  Society’s  Mission  near  Victoria 
Falls  is  gaining  but  little.  The  French 
Basuto  Mission  reports  over  300  baptisms. 
It  is  now  preparing  to  establish  a  mission 
among  the  Barotse,  whose  country  lies 
not  far  to  the  east  from  Bihg,  where  the 
American  Board  is  about  to  begin  opera¬ 
tions.  The  American  Board  is  also  pre¬ 
paring  to  extend  the  work  of  its  Zulu  Mis¬ 
sions  into  Umzilla’s  kingdom,  which  lies 
north  of  the  Limpopo  River,  on  the  East 
Coast.  The  older  missions  in  South  Africa 
have  suffered  seriously  from  the  effects 
of  the  Zulu  war,  which  scattered  and  cut 
off  many  of  their  members,  and  destroyed 
their  property.  The  great  educational 
and  industrial  institution  at  Lovedale,  the 


62  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 

pride  of  the  Scottish  Free  Church,  has 
large  new  buildings,  and  is  doing  a  more 
important  work  than  ever  before  in  train¬ 
ing  men  for  preachers,  teachers,  and  civ¬ 
ilized  occupations. 

The  Anglican  missions  on  the  Niger 
and  in  Sierra  Leone  present  features  of 
encouragement.  Stations  are  being  mul¬ 
tiplied  on  the  Niger,  under  the  direction 
of  Bishop  Crowther,  and  the  Binug,  a 
branch  of  the  Niger,  has  been  explored 
by  steamer  to  a  point  750  miles  from  the 
sea.  The  native  church  in  Sierra  Leone 
has  become  independent  and  almost  self- 
supporting,  receiving  only  a  small  grant 
from  the  Church  Missionary  Society. 
Other  missions  on  the  West  Coast  have 
enjoyed  a  moderate  prosperity ;  but  the 
traffic  in  rum  here,  as  elsewhere  in  Africa, 
is  one  of  the  formidable  opposing  forces. 
In  Abyssinia  the  Swedish  missionaries, 
who  have  met  with  a  constant  succession 
of  troubles,  losses,  and  disappointments 
from  the  first,  are  holding  on  with  spirit 
against  the  threats,  commands,  and  per¬ 
secutions  of  the  king. 

In  Polynesia,  where  Christianity  has 
gained  such  wonderful  victories,  the 


THE  WOULD  OF  MISSIONS.  63 

Churches  are  advancing  toward  independ¬ 
ence,  and  are  themselves  becoming  mis¬ 
sionary  organizations.  The  Australasian 
Wesleyan  Missionary  Society,  which  had 
an  income  of  $76,000  the  past  year,  gath¬ 
ers  a  large  portion  of  its  receipts  from  the 
Churches  of  Fiji,  and  teachers  from  that 
group  are  proving  their  power  to  endure 
hardship  as  soldiers  of  Christ  among  the 
cannibals  of  New  Britain.  Could  there 
be  a  more  striking  illustration  of  the  suc¬ 
cess  of  missions  in  the  South  Seas  than 
the  fact  that  people  who  were  cannibals 
a  generation  ago  have  in  their  turn  be¬ 
come  missionaries  to  other  cannibals,  and 
laid  down  their  lives  in  the  cause  of  Chris¬ 
tianity?  The  mission  in  New  Britain 
now  has  several  converts,  and  three  of  the 
natives  have  been  ordained  as  local 
preachers.  The  mission  of  the  London 
Society  in  New  Guinea  is  likewise  carried 
on  chiefly  by  converts  from  the  older  South 
Sea  missions,  and  it  is  pleasant  to  see  the 
native  Christians  of  the  Hervey  Group  in 
'  friendly  rivalry  over  the  raising  of  funds 
to  furnish  these  teachers  with  boats.  The 
Churches  of  the  Sandwich  Islands  are 
deeply  concerned  in  the  conversion  of  the 


64  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


heathen  of  Micronesia,  co-operating  in 
this  work  with  the  American  Board. 
They  send  out  most  of  the  missionaries 
and  helpers,  and  raise  $4,500  for  their 
support.  The  mission  of  the  Presby¬ 
terian  Churches  in  the  New  Hebrides  is 
steadily  encroaching  upon  heathenism. 
The  native  Christians  have  sent  vast 
quantities  of  arrow-root  to  market  to 
pay  for  printing  the  Bible  in  their  own 
language. 

The  great  work  wrought  in  the  center 
of  Madagascar  by  the  London  Society, 
assisted  by  the  Friends,  is  being  extended 
on  all  sides  among  tribes  for  whom  every 
thing  is  yet  to  be  done.  In  this  extension 
the  Palace  Church  bears  an  important 
part.  It  has  a  missionary  society,  of 
which  both  the  queen  and  prime  minister 
are  active  members. 

Returning  now  from  the  ends  of  the 
earth  to  our  own  continent,  we  are 
obliged  to  confess  that  the  heathen  tribes 
of  this  country  have  not  been  as  faithfully 
dealt  with  as  duty  and  opportunity  de¬ 
manded.  The  record  of  the  past  year 
shows  (as  previous  records  have  shown) 
that  the  Indian  missions  are  by  no  means 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  65 

the  least  productive  of  all  heathen  mis¬ 
sions,  when  they  are  prosecuted  with  rea¬ 
sonable  energy.  The  Presbyterian,  the 
Episcopal,  the  Baptist,  the  Congregational, 
and  other  Boards,  received  in  their  mis¬ 
sions  many  converts,  while  their  schools 
were  well  attended.  Most  of  the  5,500 
members  of  the  Baptist  Churches  in  the 
Indian  Territory  are  cared  for  by  native 
pastors,  and  a  literary  and  theological 
school  is  the  outgrowth  of  these  Churches. 
An  impulse  has  been  given  to  the  educa¬ 
tion  of  Indians  by  the  schools  at  Hamp¬ 
ton,  Va.,  and  Carlisle  Barracks,  Pa.  The 
Presbyterian  Mission  in  Alaska  is  meeting 
with  great  encouragement,  and  the  Cana¬ 
da  and  Anglican  Societies  are  prosecut¬ 
ing  vigorously  and  successfully  their  mis¬ 
sions  in  British  America. 

Missions  in  Roman  Catholic  countries 
are  not  as  generally  prosperous  as  could 
be  wished.  Some  of  the  fields  in  South 
America  appear  to  be  almost  barren, 
while  in  none  of  them  are  the  gains  very 
large.  William  Taylor  has  sent  out  many 
teachers  and  evangelists  who  are  at  work 
on  a  basis  of  self-support  in  Chili,  Peru, 
and  other  countries.  The  Society  for  the 
5 


66  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


Propagation  of  the  Gospel  has  received 
many  converts  in  its  missions  among 
the  Coolies  of  Guiana,  and  some  effectual 
work  is  being  done  among  the  Coolies  of 
the  West  Indies.  There  has  been  a  de¬ 
crease  of  violent  opposition  in  Mexico,  and 
a  very  encouraging  gain  in  converts. 
The  Presbyterian  Board  has  added  up¬ 
ward  of  850  members  to  its  missions.  In 
Spain  persecutions  are  more  abundant 
than  converts.  In  Italy  schools  and 
evangelistic  and  Bible  work  are  produc¬ 
ing  good  fruit.  In  Austria  the  govern¬ 
ment  is  too  intolerant  to  give  missiona¬ 
ries  a  fair  opportunity  to  work,  though 
something  has  been  gained  for  religious 
liberty.  France  is  open  to  Protestant 
missions,  and  offers  a  very  inviting  field. 

In  Greece  the  missionaries  of  the 
Southern  Presbyterian  Board  rejoice  over 
an  order  from  the  government  directing 
that  the  New  Testament  in  modern 
Greek  be  read  in  all  the  public  schools. 
The  missions  of  the  Methodists  and 
Baptists  in  Scandinavia,  Germany,  and 
Switzerland  are  growing  rapidly,  and  are 
exerting  a  salutary  influence  on  the  State 
Churches. 


THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  67 

The  missions  to  Jews,  carried  on  chiefly 
by  the  Scottish  Churches  and  English 
Jewish  societies,  gain  steadily  but  slowly. 
The  Scottish  Kirk  has  been  much  en¬ 
couraged  by  accessions  to  its  stations  in 
Asia  Minor.  The  schools  in  the  Turkish 
Empire  have  a  good  attendance  of  Jewish 
children.  The  work  of  the  Protestant 
Episcopal  Church  among  the  Jews  in  our 
own  country  is  accompanied  by  good  re¬ 
sults. 

This  is  too  rapid  a  tour  of  the  mission- 
fields  of  the  world  to  permit  more  than  a 
glance  at  the  most  prominent  features  of 
the  great  work.  An  exhaustive  examina¬ 
tion  would  reveal  very  much  more  that 
is  hopeful  and  some  things  which  are  not 
hopeful.  But  there  is  nothing  of  a  back¬ 
ward  tendency  in  any  field  which  need 
lead  any  friend  of  missions  to  despair. 
Difficulties  are  to  be  expected  every¬ 
where  ;  but  the  history  of  missions  is  so 
full  of  great  achievements  in  the  face 
of  the  most  formidable  hinderances,  re¬ 
peated  discouragements  and  patient  wait¬ 
ing,  that  we  have  a  right  to  conclude  that 
there  is  no  power  on  earth  which  can 
prevent  the  ultimate  success  of  the  Gos- 


68  THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS. 


pel  wherever  it  is  faithfully  preached 
The  general  outlook  was  never  brighter 
or  more  promising  than  it  is  to-day, 
whether  we  consider  the  progress  of  the 
work  in  the  field  or  the  activity  of  the 
home  Churches  in  gathering  means  and 
furnishing  missionaries.  So  much  de¬ 
pends  upon  these  home  operations  that 
advance  in  missionary  spirit  and  liberality 
is  to  be  regarded  as  progress  toward  the 
conversion  of  the  world.  The  financial 
aspect  of  missions  is  very  encouraging. 
A  comparison  between  the  present  and 
the  previous  year  of  the  receipts  of  twelve 
of  the  larger  Societies,  of  which  six  are 
European  and  six  American,  shows  a  net 
gain  for  this  year  of  $509,000.*  Eleven  of 


*  In  this  table  the  London  Society  is  not  represent¬ 
ed  in  the  column  of  communicants,  as  its  “ Report” 
does  not  indicate  the  gain  for  the  year. 


Receipts. 

Receipts. 

Gain  in 

Societies. 

1879. 

.1880. 

Courts. 

Presbyterian . 

•  $427,631 

$585,484 

1,241 

American  Board . 

.  518,386 

613^639 

2,485 

Am.  Baptist  Union . 

.  252,677 

314,860 

4,833 

Methodist  Episcopal... 

.  272,114 

279,516 

7,745 

Protestant  Episcopal... 

.  148,602 

162,084 

50 

United  Presbyterian. . . . 

66,958 

V 

Total  for  Am.  Societies 

.$1,670,851 

$2,022,541 

16,425 

THE  WORLD  OF  MISSIONS.  69 

these  societies  gained  in  communicants 
21,798.  This  indicates  a  very  prosperous 
year  for  the  eighty-five  or  more  societies  en¬ 
gaged  in  foreign  missions.  Past  success¬ 
es,  present  prosperity,  and  a  cheering  out¬ 
look,  assure  us  that  God  has  not  forgot¬ 
ten  his  promise  to  his  Church  :  That  it 
should  have  the  heathen  for  its  inheritance, 
and  the  uttermost  parts  of  the  earth  for 
its  possession. 


Receipts .  Receipts.  Gain  in 


Societies. 

1879. 

1880. 

Com'ts. 

Church  Missionary . 

$1,164,180  ! 

$1,108,615 

1,022 

London . . 

•  5oSi5oo 

5*9.3io 

Wesleyan . 

666,665 

827,490 

1,052 

Baptist . 

230,460 

25*,755 

2,224 

U.  P.  Church,  Scotland. 

•  I5*,855 

161,780 

479 

Moravian . 

84,545 

9i,7*5 

596 

Total  for  European  So, 

.$2,803,205  ! 

$2,960,665 

5,373 

1,670,851 

2,022,541 

*6,425 

Grand  total . 

$4,474,056  $4,983,206 

21,798 

Increase,  $509,150,  of  which  $351,690  belongs  to  the 
six  American  societies. 


Princeton  Theolog 


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